President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday hosted Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Rashtrapati Bhavan, underscoring the vast potential to further deepen bilateral cooperation between the two nations.
President Murmu received President Lula at Rashtrapati Bhavan and later hosted a banquet in his honour during his State Visit to India.
Welcoming the Brazilian leader, President Murmu thanked him for his participation and valuable contribution to the recent AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. She also congratulated him on Brazil’s successful hosting of the BRICS Summit and the COP-30 Summit last year.
The President noted that the India-Brazil Strategic Partnership continues to make steady progress across a wide range of sectors, including trade and investment, defence, oil and gas, biofuels, agriculture and livestock, healthcare and traditional medicine, space, science and technology, digital cooperation and cybersecurity.
Highlighting that Brazil is India’s largest trading partner in Latin America, Murmu said there is immense potential to expand and diversify bilateral trade. She reiterated India’s interest in expanding the Preferential Trade Agreement with MERCOSUR and deepening trade engagement with Brazil.
In the agriculture sector, the President observed that cooperation has strengthened significantly in recent years, with substantial trade in primary and secondary products as well as agro-chemicals. She stressed the importance of enhancing research collaboration and technology transfer in crop production, irrigation, post-harvest management and biotechnology.
President Murmu emphasised the strong partnership between the two countries in the energy sector, spanning both conventional and renewable sources. She appreciated Brazil’s continued support for the Global Biofuel Alliance and noted the fruitful collaboration under the International Solar Alliance framework.
The President also highlighted the importance of expanding cooperation in critical minerals and rare earth materials, noting that an important agreement in this sector had been signed during the visit.
As leading voices of the Global South, she said India and Brazil must continue working together to reform multilateral institutions, particularly the United Nations Security Council, to reflect contemporary global realities.
The two leaders agreed that there is tremendous scope to further strengthen bilateral ties. President Murmu expressed confidence that under President Lula’s leadership, India and Brazil would continue to grow closer across strategic and developmental areas.
